Double wall container



May 13 m59 B. EDWARDS 3,443,714

DOUBLE WALL CONTAINER Filed Jan. 18, 1968 l l mnt I l ya,

Z5 Z9 Z7 United States Patent O 3,443,714 DOUBLE WALL CONTAINER BryantEdwards, Oak Park, Ill., assignor to Illinois Tool Works Inc., Chicago,Ill., a corporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 18, 1968, Ser. No. 698,878Int. Cl. B65d 25/18, 2]/00 U.S. Cl. 220-9 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE The present invention relates to a novel container, and morespecifically to a novel double wall container such as a drinking cup.

An important object of the present invention is to provide a novelcontainer such as a drinking cup and the like suitable for both hot andcold beverages and constructed for providing an insulated portionadapted to be gripped by the hand and further constructed so that aplurality of the containers may be stacked in nested relationshipwithout binding.

A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a novelcontainer or cup of the above described type having inner and outerwalls formed so that mid portions thereof are spaced radially from eachother a substantial distance for defining a relatively wide eiiicientinsulating air space therebetween and further formed so that the innermember supports the outer member in a manner for resisting collapsing ofthe outer member around the air space when gripped in the hand of auser.

Still anothre object of the present invention is to provide a novelcontainer or cup of the above described type wherein the inner and outermembers are formed with interengageable radially extending shoulder orshelf portions which serve both to resist collapsing of the outer memberaround the air space and to permit a plurality of the containers to bestacked without binding.

A still further specific object of the present invention is to provide anovel double walled container or cup including inner and outer membersformed from thin material such as plastic so that the outer memberpresents a relatively large diameter body merging with a radiallyinwardly directed shoulder toward the lower end of the cup and the innermember presents a relatively small diameter body merging with a radiallyoutwardly directed shoulder or shelf toward the upper end of the cup,said bodies defining an annular insulated air space between saidshoulders and said shoulders serving to resist collapsing of said airspace and for an engagement with adjacent containers or cups when saidcup is placed in a stack for preventing binding of the cups.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from the following description and the accompanying drawingswherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view showing a container or cupincorporating features of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken along line 2-2 inFIG. 1 and further showing, in broken lines, a second cup stacked withinthe first cup;

FIG. 3 is a partial sectional view taken generally along line 3-3 inFIG. l; and

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FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken along line 4-4 inFIG. 3.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings wherein like parts aredesignated by the same numerals throughout the various figures, a cup 10incorporating features of the present invention comprises an inner cupmember 12 and an outer member 14. The cup members 12 and 14 are formedfrom a thin material which, for example, may vbe a plastic material.While various plastic materials may be used, a high impact polystyrenehas been found to be satisfactory.

The inner cup member 12 has a bottom wall 16 which may be substantiallyfiat. The bottom wall merges with a lower end section 18 of a seamlessside wall of the cup member 12. The section 18 merges with a radiallyoutwardly extending annular shoulder or shelf 20 which in turn joins asubstantially cylindrical central body section 22 of the wall. An uppermargin of the body section 22 joins another radially extending shoulderor shelf section 24 and this shelf section joins an upper end portion 26of the cup member side wall. The upper end portion is preferably of atapered or inverted frusto-conical configuration.

The outer cup member 14 also has a bottom wall 28. This wall has araised central portion 27 which abuts and supports the bottom wall 16 ofthe inner cup member as shown in FIG. 2. The bottom wall 28 is furtherformed with a plurality of flutes 29 tapering downwardly and outwardlyfrom the raised central portion 27 for lending strength and rigidity. Asshown in FIG. 2, an air space 30 is defined between annular peripheralportions of the bottom walls 16 and 28 for insulating the outer bottomsurface of the cup from the interior and thereby protecting the hand ofa person holding the cup or a table surface on which it may be placed.

The outer bottom Wall 28 merges with a lower end section 32 of aseamless side wall of the outer cup member 14. The side wall portion 32is preferably slightly tapered or of inverted frusto-conicalconfiguration and has a minimum diameter greater than the diameter ofthe inner wall portion 18 so as to define an insulating air space 34therebetween. Preferably, the wall section 32 is formed with verticallyextending flutes 36 for lending strength and rigidity thereto.

The wall section 32 merges with an outwardly flaring and, in theembodiment shown, curved shoulder sections 33 which in turn merges witha central body section 40 extending around the inner body section 22.The section 40 preferably flares slightly outwardly or, in other words,has an inverted frusto-conical con-figuration so that it isprogressively increasingly spaced from the cylindrical inner bodysection 22 and combines with the body section 22 in defining an annularair space 44 of substantial width for effectively insulating the outersurface of the cup from the interior. The wall section 40 merges with anupper end portion 46 which, in fact, forms a continuation of the section40. The taper of the section 46 is slightly less than the inclination ofthe adjacent inner wall section 26 so that there is a slight space 48therebetween as shown in FIG. 2. This arrangement prevents binding ofthe inner and outer cups during assembly thereof so that the inner cupmay be easily inserted fully.

The inner and outer cup members are secured together at their uppermargins. More specifically upper marginal portions 50 and 52 thereof arerolled together to provide a single rim 54.

With the foregoing described structure, it is seen that the cup isprovided with .a primary grip portion adapted to be engaged by the handof a user and defined by the intermediate body sections 22 and 40. Aspreviously described, these sections define a relatively wide air space44 which effectively insulates the outer surface of the section 40 so asto protect the hand of a user. When the section `40 is gripped in thehand of a user there is, of course, a tendency for it to collapse. Suchcollapsing however is eliminated or minimized by engagement of the outercup with the annular shoulders or shelf sections 20 and 24 of the innercup. As shown in FIG. 2, the section 20 extends into supportingengagement with the curved shoulder section 38 of the outer cup and thesection 24 extends to a point closely spaced from the upper margin ofthe outer body section 40 so as to engage and support the section 40 inthe event any collapsing of the section takes place. The outer section40 may be further strengthened and rigidified by providing it with ribsof any suitable design such as the vertical ribs 56.

A plurality of the cups may be stacked together for storing ordispensing purposes as indicated by a stacked cup shown in broken linesin FIG. 2. In this stacked condition, the rounded shoulder 38 of anupper cup engages the shoulder or shelf 24 of the immediately adjacentlower cup. The cups are thus prevented from wedging together so thatsubsequent removal or dispensing is facilitated.

The invention is claimed as follows:

1. A double wall container including an inner member and an outermember, said members respectively comprising inner and outer peripheralside walls and inner and outer bottom walls, said side wallsrespectively including peripheral body sections intermediate their topand bottom defining a primary gripping area, said intermediate sectionsbeing substantially radially spaced from each other throughout theiraxial length and defining an insulating air space therebetween, and saidinner side wall including axially spaced annular shoulder sections atupper and lower margins of its intermediate body section and projectingradially for engaging and supporting said outer wall adjacent upper andlower margins of the outer intermediate body section.

2. A container, as defined in claim 1, wherein said inner side wallintermediate body section has a substantially cylindrical congurationand said outer side wall intermediate body section is of invertedtruste-conical configuration.

3. A container, as defined in claim 1, wherein said inner and outer sidewalls respectively include lower end sections respectively havingdiameters less than the diameters of the inner and outer intermediatebody sections, said lower shoulder section extending between a lowermargin of said inner intermediate body section and an upper margin offthe inner lower end section, said inner lower end section beingsubstantially cylindrical, and said outer lower end section including aplurality of rib means, said inner and outer lower end sections beingnadially separated lfrom each other and defining an insulating air spacetherebetween.

4. A container, as defined in claim 3, wherein said bottom wall of theouter member includes a raised central portion engaging and supportingthe inner bottom wall, .annular peripheral portions of said bottom wallsbeing axially separated and defining an insulating air spacetherebetween, and said outer bottom wall including a plurality of ribsextending generally radially outwardly from said central raised portion.

I5. A container, as defined in claim 1, wherein said outer side wallincludes an annular shoulder section adjacent the lower margin of saidouter intermediate body section, said last mentioned annular shouldersection having la minimum diameter greater than a minimum diameter ofsaid upper annular shoulder section on the inner member so that aplurality of said containers may be stacked with said outer annularshoulder section of one container engaging said upper annular shouldersection of an immediately adjacent container :for preventing bindingbetween side walls of the containers.

6. A container, as defined in claim 5, wherein said outer memberincludes an outer lower end section extending downwardly from a junctionwith said outer member Iannular shoulder section and merging with saidouter member bottom wall, said outer member further including an upperend section extending upwardly from a junction with said outerintermediate body section, said outer intermediate body section andouter side wall upper end section having an inverted frusto-conicalconfiguration, said inner member including a lower end section extendingdownwardly i-from its lower shoulder section and spaced from said outerlower end section, and said inner side wall further including an upperend section joincd with said upper annular shoulder section, said innerand outer upper end sections having upper marginal edges joinedtogether, and said inner upper end section tapering inwardly from saidupper margins in slightly spaced relationship with respect to said outerupper end section.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 926,648 6/1909l Friend 2.20-101,505,703 8/1924 Darley 220-9 3,079,027 2/ 1963 Edwards 220-9 3,372,8303/1968 Edwards.

JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner.

JAMES R. GARRETT, Assistant Examiner.

U.S. C1. X.R. 220-97

